Quest for the Presidency 1992

Quest for the Presidency 1992 reveals for the first time the full story of what really happened in the tumultuous 1992 presidential election. With unparalleled access to the inner workings of the various campaigns, Newsweek's award-winning team of reporters gathered the in-depth stories of the candidates; their handlers, pollsters, and supporters; and their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. Woven together here in spellbinding and insightful narrative, these accounts reveal the changing order of American politics, which saw the strongest third-force challenge in eighty years, and the changing portrait of the American voter, more cynical yet more involved in shaping the political process than ever before. The rich reporting and you-are-there intimacy of private meetings, confidential conversations, informal war-gaming sessions, and other key moments in the campaigns provide new insight into the players and events of this critical election year. A broad array of never-before-published campaign documents and sixty-one of Newsweek's best on-the-scene photographs flesh out the record. The result offers an essential guide to understanding not only the Clinton candidacy but also the Clinton presidency; keen human understanding of George Bush's fall; and a hint of how a Texas billionaire's down-home style may have changed the political terrain forever.

Peter Goldman, the principal writer, is a contributing editor at Newsweek, where he has written about politics and government for more than thirty years, including two earlier volumes in the Quest for the Presidency series. He is also author or coauthor of six other books.Thomas M. DeFrank, Newsweek's deputy Washington bureau chief and senior White House correspondent, won the 1993 White House Correspondents' Association's highest award for excellence in reporting for his account of George Bush's defeat.Mark Miller, who enjoyed unequalled openness in covering the Clinton camp, came to Newsweek in 1985 and is currently assigned to the Los Angeles bureau.Andrew Murr, whose Herculean task was to follow Ross Perot, Bob Kerrey, Paul Tsongas, and Jerry Brown, joined Newsweek in 1983 and is now based in the Los Angeles bureau.Tom Mathews, a former senior editor at Newsweek, has written for twenty-five years on subjects ranging from foreign affairs to fly fishing.

What Readers Are Saying:

"This is significant: fascinating realities of how presidential election happened most recently. A brilliant book based on actual information, not mere impressionism. Very excellent interesting true stories which we need to know so we can revitalize democracy in the United States."--James David Barber, author of The Presidential Character and The Pulse of Politics

"Quest for the Presidency 1992 should be on the bookshelves and in the classrooms of anyone wanting to make sense of the 1992 presidential campaign." --—Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pe

"This wonderful book contains an abundance of vivid and telling detail within a narrative of driving and fascinating power. The authors' prodigious research and superb writing skills combine to provide an illuminating account of a watershed presidential race." --Doris Kearns Goodwin

"A team of Newsweek reporters virtually lived with the 1992 presidential candidates for more than a year, tracking their respective campaigns. Full of revelations and witty turns of phrase, this crackling report provides a unique window on the contenders' maneuverings . . . " --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Quest for the Presidency 1992 is very good, one of the best of its genre in this election cycle. . . . the book is especially instructive about Mr. Clinton's temperament and the role of his wife. Over and over, his advisers cope with their man's failure to tell them key facts. The women, the draft, the marijuana, Hillary Rodham Clinton's law business: the insider reporting is sufficiently textured to make the reader wonder why the advisers stuck around." --New York Times Book Review

"Despite its length and the known result, the book is compelling reading, presenting valuable insights into the campaigns of the candidates. . . . They also offer priceless information on the Clinton campaign, which both helps make his presidency more understandable and offers hope for it. Their descriptions transform the candidates into human beings instead of stereotypes. Highly recommended for all collections." --Library Journal

"If you read just one book on the 1992 presidential election, let it be this thoroughly engaging and often surprising account of how George Bush was canned by the American people. . . . Quest is a rollicking good read for countless reasons, not the least of which is that the politically savvy authors are largely immune to the ministrations of spin doctors of all stripes. . . . . These journalists have done one hell of a job recounting the story with such clarity." --San Diego Union-Tribune

" . . . as this thorough and thoughtful account of the 1992 campaign . . . reminds us, some of the failures of American government are direct consequences of what has happened to American politics. . . . The Newsweek writers show how frighteningly volatile presidential politics have become. . . . Goldman and his colleagues have done the state some service by illuminating the cynical manipulation that now passes for political discourse in American presidential campaigns." --Washington Post Book World

"The account as a whole is tough, funny, and compelling as it details a madcap race, which will remind readers of Adlai Stevenson's comment that by the time a candidate gets the nomination, he has compromised himself to death and probably doesn't deserve it." --Booklist